


Stronger together

by vendettadays



Category: Naruto
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Introspection, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:07:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27862041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vendettadays/pseuds/vendettadays
Summary: Hana and Kiba Inuzuka through the ages.
Relationships: Inuzuka Hana & Inuzuka Kiba
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8
Collections: Heart Attack Exchange 2020





	1. Now

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tavina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tavina/gifts).



‘Sis!’ 

Hana skidded to a halt at Kiba’s shout, feet driving deep tracks into the peaty mud. Her feet were wet, her body was cold and weighted by her rain-soaked flak jacket. She blinked the water from her eyes as she surveyed the marshy wetlands before her. Darkness had fallen long ago and the sky filled with clouds in a murky gunmetal grey that didn’t allow for any part of the night sky to filter through. The constant rush of rain filled her ears incessantly, the streams of water washing away all scents into the marshes. 

The non-stop rain, Hana could handle. The cold was nothing compared to the frigid chill of the Land of Iron, though, she wouldn’t wish the snow on anybody. Even the darkness of the night was nothing for the enhanced eyes of an Inuzuka. It was the silence that unnerved her. The ease of which they had progressed throughout the day and into the night. She and Kiba were way over the border of the Land of Fire, firmly within the territory of the country where Amegakure was located. 

Their mission was simple reconnaissance. They were to track an insurgent group and gather information on their plans to overthrow the Daimyos on the edge of the Land of Fire. The Kazekage had his suspicion that the same group was linked to the violence in the Land of Wind. 

Track and gather intel.

That was all this was.

Hana’s neck prickled with unease as her muscles tensed. So why did it feel like a trap? 

The Three Haimaru Brothers doubled back, splashing through the mud and water to where she stopped and immediately took position around her. Their hackles raised, fur standing on end, teeth bared and crouched low, ready to leap at the slightest hint of danger. She reached for a kunai, looping her forefinger through the ring, bending her legs at the knees, feet shifting apart just as Akamaru stopped next to her with Kiba astride his back. 

‘You feel it too, right?’ asked Kiba in a low voice. 

She nodded, eyes darting from side-to-side for the barest sign of movement. Visibility was low in the dark, made worse by the rain. The tall reeds of the marsh worked both to hide them and to hide others. Her feet slid in the mud. A low rumbling growl erupted from Ichiro, the eldest of the three of Hana’s ninken. Her hand tightened on her kunai.

‘How far are we from the Land of Wind?’ 

‘A few hours if we keep pace.’ 

‘Damn, we’re so close to the rendezvous point too,’ cursed Hana. The Kazekage was waiting for them at the border. The intelligence they had gathered was crucial for Suna and Konoha. 

Several unknown chakra signatures flared at Hana’s back. ‘Kiba!’

She dropped down onto her front as Akamaru sidestepped the barrage of shuriken that whizzed through the air. Hana rolled to her feet, splashing mud all over herself and ran in the direction of the chakra signatures popping up like ducks in the reeds. There were so many! The Brothers ran alongside in a furious pace. Her hands moved lightning fast into a series of seals.  _ ‘Gatsūga!’ _

The world blurred into a dizzying spin as Hana spun through the air and straight at the enemy. She vaguely registered the yells and cries, bodies ricocheted and bounced from her jutsu, her own body impervious to the impacts. Hana landed on her hands and feet, fingers digging into the mud as her nails sharpened and her canines lengthened in her mouth.

‘Haimaru Brothers!’ yelled Hana, a growl growing deep in her throat as the Brothers landed next to her ‘ _ Inuzuka-Ryū: Jinjū Konbi Henge! _ ’

Heavy smoke enveloped Hana and her ninken, concealing them from view as the jutsu took hold. Her body stretched and elongated, formed and dissolved, and meddled with her ninken. In their place, a hulking four-headed wolf —almost as tall as two people— stepped out from the cloud of smoke. Her voice transformed and with the support of her three ninken, Hana roared into the air, sending the enemy ninja turning tail and running straight into Akamaru’s snapping jaw. 

Kiba and Akamaru fielded the enemy like sheep, rounding them and blocking their escape. Hana and the Brothers advanced, heads moving in different directions, saliva dripping from their open jaws. Their paws moved in tandem, knocking bodies out of the way as if they were toys. One by one the enemy fell with every one of Hana’s careless swipes. 

They reared on their hind legs and crushed the last enemy-nin face first into the marshy water. With a puff of smoke, Hana and the Haimaru Brothers transformed and separated. She dropped to her knees and turned the body over. The forehead protector was blank with a single line scratched across. 

Kiba climbed down from Akamaru and stood next to Hana. ‘They’re from the same group.’ 

Hana nodded and let go of the body. It flopped back into the water lifelessly. She stood up and looked up at the sky. The rain had finally stopped. She turned to Kiba and patted the zipped pocket on the front of her flak jacket. They needed to get to Suna. Quickly. 

She turned as a single chakra signature flickered to life. 

‘Watch out!’ Hana was knocked off her feet as Kiba threw himself into her. 

The blood in Hana’s face drained at Kiba’s scream, filling her ears and echoing into the night like a terrifying nightmare. She sped to the swaying ninja and drove a chakra-infused punch straight for his gut. The chakra signature went out instantly and the ninja crumpled to the ground. Hana rushed back to where Kiba had fallen. She dragged him to a grassy bank that peaked above the water. Her hands shook as she ripped open his flak jacket and tugged up his black shirt, blood bubbled like a fountain from the wound in his abdomen. 

‘Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit,’ muttered Hana like a mantra that she couldn’t stop. She pressed her hands firmly down to stem the flow of blood. Not even a twitch of pain. Kiba was completely unresponsive.

She closed her eyes, took a fortifying breath into her lungs, and sent a gentle flow of chakra to her hands. The air hummed with her healing jutsu, the teal glow bleeding through the darkness behind her closed eyelids. Hana opened her eyes and poured her chakra into healing Kiba. The wound closed, skin knitting back together until all that remained to show of the injury was the light pink of new skin. 

‘Kiba?’ She shook his shoulder gently. His head rolled to the side and his eyes stayed closed. Fear rose and crashed over Hana like an uncontrollable tsunami. She shook Kiba again, a little harder, harder again when he didn’t respond until she was holding onto his shirt and shaking him with all her strength. ‘Kiba, wake up!’ 

A sharp pain to her right forearm stopped her shaking. Akamaru had clamped his jaws around her arm, an intense growl rumbled from his throat, lip curled back to show his bared teeth. She hissed through her teeth and breathed shakily, focusing on the pain as it brought her back to the moment. 

Akamaru slowly unclamped his jaws from his arm. He whined and licked her punctured sleeve and skin. She gently laid Kiba down on the grass and stroked Akamaru’s head. ‘Thanks, I needed that.’ 

Hana tilted her head back and breathed in through her nose and out with her mouth. The clouds had thinned and drifted away to reveal twinkling stars against a canvas of black. She had healed the wound, but something else was keeping him unconscious and she wasn’t going to find out what it was by herself. Kiba needed medical attention urgently. The data scroll seemed to burn inside her pocket. They were only a few hours from the rendezvous point. 

She surged to her feet. The Haimaru Brothers waited dutifully behind her with Akamaru beside her. He wasn’t big enough to carry both her and Kiba. The Brothers didn’t need telling, with a single look from Hana, they transformed into their three-headed wolf form. She lifted Kiba in her arms with a strained grunt and jumped onto the Brothers’ back. As soon as she settled, they sped off in the direction of the Land of Wind. 

‘Hold on, Kiba,’ said Hana, eyes narrowing as the wind whipped her face. 

The marshes became a rushing blur, the long reeds of the wetlands melted away and turned to shorter grass as they ran across the land. Hana held on tight to Kiba, arms locked around his shoulder and waist, every muscle in her body stiff and tensed as she shared her chakra with her ninken. She kept watch on the horizon and waited desperately for the grass to thin and give way to stone and sand. 

The first sight of sand almost made Hana shout with joy. The uptick of her mood spurred the Haimaru Brothers on who had been waning with every decreasing mile. It was at Akamaru’s bark that alerted Hana to the lone figure in the distance. Hana jumped off before the Brothers even stopped and landed in front of the Kazekage, her legs giving out from beneath her as the Brothers collapsed in a heap, transforming back into three dogs. 

The Kazekage took one look at Kiba and without a preamble, lifted his hands into the air. The sand beneath them rose and carried them to Suna quicker than any ninken could. Almost in a blink, they had touched down outside Suna’s hospital. It was as if someone had hit fastforward and all Hana could remember were snippets of her arrival. Someone had taken Kiba from her arms. Someone else had chivvied her, the Haimaru Brothers and Akamaru into the hospital. The next thing she knew she was standing in front of the Kazekage, wearing a fresh set of clothes, arm bandaged and handing over the data scroll with the intel they had gathered. 

‘Was there anything you wanted to add?’ asked the Kazekage after he finished his debrief.

Hana looked down at Kiba. The red clan tattoos were stark against the pallor of his cheeks. She turned back to the Kazekage with a frown. ‘The medic-nins said Kiba was trapped by a genjutsu, one that was inflicted at the same time as the ninjutsu that caused his wound.’

A mirroring frown appeared on the Kazekage’s face. 

‘If that is the level of skill we’re facing, there will be a lot more casualties than expected if the situation escalates in Fire and Wind.’ 

‘I’m afraid your assessment is right and I have sent word to the Sixth Hokage of this newest development,’ said the Kazekage with concern in his voice. ‘I have also informed him that you are both alive, though not without injury. You are welcome to stay as long as needed and we will make sure Kiba is well taken care of.’ 

Hana bowed gratefully. ‘Thank you, Lord Kazekage.’ 

The Kazekage nodded and left the hospital room. 

Hana dropped heavily into the chair next to Kiba’s bed. Jiro padded over to Hana and sat between her legs, black eyes trained on her. She stroked her hands over Jiro’s back and buried her face into the scruff of his neck. The ninken had stayed quiet throughout the debrief with Ichiro keeping watch by the door, Saburo was curled up with Akamaru in a corner of the room, but it was Jiro who always knew when she needed a hug. ‘Thanks, buddy.’ 

Hana gave one last scratch to his chin and turned to Kiba. He was still, too still, chest barely rising with each breath. The beeping of the heart monitor had been an unexpected comfort when she had been allowed in to see him. 

‘Ma’s going to kill me if you die, so you better not die,’ said Hana, the joke falling flat to the room. ‘Seriously, little brother, we survived a war, now is not the time to leave the family.’ 

The medic-nins couldn’t say when he would wake up, only that he would and that talking might help. She gripped Kiba’s hand and swallowed down the lump in her throat.

Talk.

She could do that if it meant her brother would wake soon.


	2. Hana 6-7 | Kiba 0-1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (TW: minor reference to bullying)

Hana was six the day her mother came home with a red-faced, squalling baby in her arms. 

‘This is Kiba, your brother,’ Tsume said, her rough voice softer than usual as she tilted the bundle towards Hana. ‘It’s your job as his older sister to protect him, just like we all protect each other in this family.’ 

She looked at the tuft of messy brown hair that peeked between the folds of the blanket. Kiba’s eyes were closed, skin pink and hands held in tightly closed fists. Her nose wrinkled at the scent of milk and baby. 

‘Mama, I wanted ninken, not a brother,’ complained Hana with a pout. ‘Can’t you take him back and ask for ninken instead? A brother’s not gonna help me protect the clan or the village!’

Tsume laughed, loud like a bark. The laughter shook Tsume’s body and the baby in her arms gurgled loudly in protest. ‘Kiba’s family, Hana. You can’t take back your family.’ 

Hana frowned at her baby brother, mouth downturned at the corners, unimpressed that her mother was laughing at her. Didn’t her mother understand how important it was that she protected them? She whispered, ‘What if the Nine-Tailed Fox comes back?’ 

Tsume stopped laughing at Hana's question. The baby was curiously quiet too. It had only been six months since the attack. The Village was still recovering from the destruction, building new and fixing old buildings, mourning lives and trying to get on with their lives. They had lost so many to the demon fox. They had nearly lost too much. Tsume crouched down next to Hana. Her callused hand cupped Hana’s cheek, whose eyes were wide with fear. Tsume pulled her into a one-armed hug. 

‘We will fight it again and we will protect our family, the clan and the Village,’ murmured Tsume into the top of Hana’s head. ‘We are stronger together, and that includes with Kiba too.’

Hana nodded into her mother’s shoulder, little hands gripping onto her flak jacket tightly. In the end, Tsume never did take Kiba back like Hana had asked her to. So she ended up with a brother, instead of the ninken she wanted. She would have preferred ninken. Kiba cried all the time. Slept all the time. He couldn’t even move without being carried. But those thoughts didn’t last long. Soon Kiba was running around on little legs and Hana had forgotten all about her comment to return her brother to wherever babies came from. The days turned to months and a year later, it was as if Kiba had always been around. 

A year later and Hana still hadn’t got her ninken. For all she knew, today might be the day she got her ninken, even if it was just an ordinary Wednesday. Nothing special ever happened on Wednesdays and her day hadn’t started any different from any other day. She had gone to the Academy, finished her classes and gone straight home afterwards. 

She ran through the gates and into the back garden to their house. It was less a garden and more a large field that connected the Inuzuka land to the edge of the forest. Hana climbed onto the back porch, balancing on her knees as she shucked her sandals off carelessly. Sandals off, Hana jumped to her feet, ready to dart into the house when she stopped. She bent back down and righted her sandals, lining them up neatly as her father had taught her to do, remembering all the times he had told her mother off for leaving them in a pile. 

Hana rushed into the house, but stopped abruptly, right foot suspended over the threshold. She sniffed the air. The smell of Kuromaru’s fur comforted her, overpowering Kiba’s baby smell, but not completely covering it. There was the confusing aromas of her mother’s coffee from the morning and the light sandalwood from her father’s cologne that always tickled her nose. All together, they were the warm scents of home and it was being ruined by something else. Hana wrinkled her nose; the air tasted bitter like salt and sadness. It smelled wrong and if Kuromaru was with her, she knew he would be growling. She took a step into the house. One step, two steps, three steps until she reached her mother sat at the dining table. 

Hana’s eyes widened at her mother’s shaking shoulders. She had never seen her cry before. She walked up to her and tugged her mother’s sleeve. 

‘Mama, what’s wrong?’ Hana pursed her lips and curled her hands into fists. She wasn’t going to cry just because Mama was crying. 

‘Hey, kid,’ said Tsume, her rough voice watery with tears. She dropped the piece of paper she held onto the table and rubbed her eyes with her sleeve. She tried a smile that didn’t look like a smile at all to Hana. 

Hana’s chin wobbled at the sadness on her mother’s face and she bit down on her bottom lip to stop it shaking. She was seven, almost grown up, she wasn’t going to cry. ‘Mama?’

‘Come here,’ Tsume opened her arms and lifted Hana into her lap, ‘I have something to tell you.’

A year later, on a normal Wednesday afternoon after her classes at the Academy, Hana found out her father had left. 

***

The sudden absence of their father hit them hard. Kiba, the youngest and least able to understand why their family of five had shrunk to four, cried constantly. Tsume carried on as usual, head held high, shoulders pulled back, and voice strong if not stronger than before. It was as if nothing had happened, but Hana knew better. No amount of hiding could conceal the muffled sobs she heard on the nights she would sneak out of her room to sit with Kuromaru outside her mother’s room, his large body and warm fur a comforting presence to her as she took watch. 

During the day the whispers followed Hana around the Inuzuka compound. Pitying looks from uncles and aunts, shaking heads directed her way from the elder clan members. It really wasn’t that much different from how the adults treated her to begin with. She never understood why they treated her differently. They were weird when her father had been around, now they acted even weirder. It was the sniggers from some of her older cousins that were worse than what any of the adults did. Hana endured the weekly lessons with her cousins taught by the Inuzuka Elders only to earn her clan tattoos and to make her mother proud. 

‘Did you hear? Her dad left.’

‘ _My_ dad said he never fit in here and good riddance that he left.’ 

‘Isn’t she sad that her dad left them all alone?’

Hana’s shoulders rose to her ears as she tried to make herself smaller without slouching. Her legs were stiff from how long they were made to sit on the tatami, but she forced herself to focus on counting from one to ten. She breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth just as she was taught to do. Every week the Elders taught the younger clan members to channel their chakra the Inuzuka way, the methods to enhance their sense of smell, and sharing secret techniques that they would one day use with their ninken. 

A sharp tap between her shoulder blades sent Hana jolting to attention. ‘Back straight!’

Her cheeks burned red at the giggles that erupted around the room. She straightened her back and kept her eyes straight ahead. The lesson couldn’t finish fast enough for her and at the end of the hour, Hana released a sigh of relief. She waited for the others to leave first. Her older cousins with ninken tended to leave her alone. It was her other cousins who were mean. 

When the room had emptied and Hana was the only one left, she got up slowly, hands flat on the tatami to push herself up on her feet, legs asleep with the buzzy sensation of pins and needles. She went to the shoe cubicles and shoved her feet into her sandals. Everyone should have gone home by now. She could be home and check—

Hana tripped over a leg as she ran out the doorway. Her hands and knees broke her fall, the gravel on the pathway bit into her palms and knees. She gasped at the pain that radiated from the four points her body had contact with the ground. 

‘Jeez, she can’t even watch where she’s going.’ 

Hana gritted her teeth at her cousin’s goading. She jumped to her feet, uncaring of her stinging palms and the throbbing pain in her kneecaps. With an intense furrow between her brow, she rounded on her cousin, fists shaking and anger burning deep inside her in a way that she had never felt before. ‘What do you want, Akira?’

Akira scoffed and smirked at her. He looked to Yui and Haru, her other cousins standing on either side of him. ‘It’s kind of pathetic, isn’t it? She can’t do something simple like sit straight in training, can’t even walk without tripping over her own feet, and now her dad’s left.’ 

The anger that started as a simmer, bubbled and boiled hot in her stomach. Her knuckles were white, fingers aching from how tight she was holding her fists. Her dark pupils, usually round and so unlike the rest of the Inuzuka, narrowed into slits. Her blood rushed like a roaring river inside her ears. Hana stayed still, she locked her knees and refused to give in. Her mother always told her to think before she acted, even if Hana knew her mother didn’t always do it herself. 

‘My parents say it’s ‘cause he doesn’t belong here.’ Akira put his hands on his hip, looking proud of himself when Hana jerked forward a step. 

‘Hey, Akira, that’s enough.’ Yui placed a hand on Akira's shoulder. 

‘What you’re saying is kind of mean,’ added Haru nervously. 

Akira shrugged Yui away, snarling as he cried, ‘It’s all your family’s fault! If your ma was a better clan leader than my dad wouldn’t have died protecting her against the Nine-Tails! It serves her right that your dad ran off!' 

Rage engulfed Hana like a swirling fire and she launched herself at Akira, slamming him into the ground, small fists striking all and any part of his body that was available. 

‘Hana Inuzuka!’ 

Her punches turned to slaps, ignoring Akira’s shouts as he shielded his face and tried to throw her from him. Someone wrenched her off him. Her shirt collar dug into her neck in a choking strangle and her hands went to her shirt, body thrashing and feet kicking aimlessly. 

‘How dare you fight in front of the clan hall!’

Hana was dropped to the ground, legs collapsing beneath her before she could gather the strength to land on her feet. She glared at Elder Kaito and struggled up, the adrenaline shaking her body as she faced one of the clan’s elders. She pointed at Akira, uncaring that she was being rude and disrespectful. ‘He started it!’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ said Kaito. He narrowed his eyes at her, the lines at the corners deepening with his frown. ‘Your mother would be so disappointed in you—’

Hana didn’t stay to listen to the rest. She ran as fast and far as her tired legs could take her. Street after street blurred by, melting into the dark brown and deep green of the forest. Every slap of her sandalled feet against the ground was driven by the rage that vibrated through her body.

The blue sky that filtered through the leaves dimmed the deeper into the forest Hana went. The leaves and branches grew denser and thicker. The tree trunks so wide that not even her mother could wrap her arms around them. Hana stopped suddenly, her body bending at the waist as her chest heaved with every wheezing drag of air into her aching lungs. Every muscle in her legs burned furiously and exhaustion clung to her like the sweat that trickled down her face and back. 

Panic clawed down her neck as she realised that she had never been to this part of the forest before. The darkness pressed in around Hana and not a single shaft or ray of light broke through the tree canopy. Her eyes went from the tall trees to the mossy undergrowth and finally back to the path she had taken. Her breath hitched into a sob. She was lost with no idea where she was. 

Hana bit the inside of her cheeks and put on a brave face. She had run in a straight line. Maybe she would get home that way? She nodded to herself and started back the way she came. She didn’t know how long she had been walking. Her stomach growled from hunger. Her throat hurt from thirst. Her legs felt leaden and heavy, and with every step she tripped over her own feet. But she kept walking. She needed to get home. She couldn’t let her mother and Kiba think she had left them too. 

A rustle behind Hana had her spinning around. Her body froze, feet rooted to the spot at the sight of six glowing blue eyes watching her from the undergrowth. Low guttural growls echoed into the stillness of the forest and grew louder in intensity. Hana shifted backwards and three medium-sized blurs darted at her, tackling her to the ground. 

‘Hey, stop that!’ Something warm, wet and raspy swiped at her face. Soft fur burrowed into her neck. Sharp teeth nipped playfully at her arm. Hana giggled as the growling turned to excited yips and yowls. 

The six eyes belonged to three dogs with fur the colour of ash on their top and cream on their bellies and legs. She scratched the chin of the one closest to her, and ended up with an armful of dogs as they fought for her attention. ‘Okay, okay, wait a second!’

She blinked as the three dogs clambered off her and sat down obediently in front of her, clearly waiting for her command. An idea came to Hana. ‘Let’s get home and I will give you all the scratches and belly rubs you want.’

Three identical tails wagged in agreement. 

‘Okay, let’s find our way home,’ said Hana, fear shrinking away as she started walking again and this time she was not alone. ‘When we get home, I’m going to tell Mama that she doesn’t need to get me ninken anymore.’


	3. Hana 15 | Kiba 9

‘Why do our cousins hate you so much?’ asked Kiba suddenly. 

Hana put down her textbook and tilted her head up to where Kiba was dangling upside down from a tree branch. ‘Which one?’

‘All of them,’ said Kiba loud enough for her to hear. He swung back and forth, the back of his legs hooked over the branch, fingertips brushing across her hair with every swing. ‘Not really, but some of them do.’ 

She swatted his hands out the way and went back to her book, ignoring Kiba in favour of reading about remedial herbs that could relieve the symptoms of canine congestion. But like an irritating fly buzzing around her head, Kiba didn’t let up and moved onto poking the top of her head.

‘Kiba, stop that!’ yelled Hana, shaking her book in the air like a bat. 

‘Aw, come on Sis! Tell me!’ Kiba puffed his chest out, or at least it looked like it from Hana's angle. ‘They were saying mean things, but I chased them away for you!’

Irritation flooded Hana. Why couldn’t her cousins just let up for one day? She slammed her book shut and stormed away. ‘Just leave me alone, Kiba!’ 

Ignoring his shouts, she walked briskly from the training grounds that bordered the Nara clan’s land. Guilt immediately filled Hana as her words sunk in. It wasn’t Kiba's fault that she had a meeting with Elder Kaito that she didn’t want to go to. It wasn’t his fault that the Haimaru Brothers had to stay home, leaving her moorless without them by her side. 

The sun was setting, dipping low over the tops of the buildings and the trees that skirted the edge of the Village. Oranges and reds bathed the mostly empty streets, and Hana slowed her pace to admire the changing skies, stopping to bow at the elderly woman who ran the pet store. 

Someone bumped into her shoulder, the force knocking her to the ground. ‘Watch where you're going.’ 

Hana ground her molars together at the familiar voice, but didn’t react. The last thing she needed was to arrive late after fighting with Akira again. 

‘Sis!’

The shout came from behind her. Kiba stopped next to her, Akamaru yipped as he overshot where she was. He helped her up before turning, waving a fist at their cousin’s back. ‘You better walk away! I’m gonna punch your lights out when I catch up!’

Hana shook her head and got up, dusting off her trousers and shirt. Kiba was still yelling when she picked up her book from the ground. The cover was scuffed and dirtied. She sighed, the librarian was going to tell her off. 

‘Where’s your forehead protector?’ Kiba pointed at her upper arm where her forehead protector was normally tied to. 

Hana sighed louder. Akira. ‘I’ll get it later, I have to meet Elder Kaito first.’ 

Kiba frowned up at her and she ruffled his hair with a smile. He hadn’t quite hit his growth spurt yet, but he was already acting like he was the big brother and she was the little sister. The older Kiba got, the more protective he became. It was endearing as much as it was annoying. 

‘He took it, didn't he?’ The frown on Kiba’s face deepened, mouth pursing into a pout that reminded Hana of their mother. 

‘It’s fine, Kiba.’ She bumped his shoulder with her arm. ‘Get home, okay? Ma’s cooking tonight and you know what she’s like when you're late.’

Hana grinned at Kiba’s grimace. With one last ruffle of his hair, she hurried in the direction of the clan halls. By the time she arrived, she only had a few minutes to spare. She rushed to take her shoes off in the entryway and hurried to the meeting room. She slowed down as she approached, trying and failing to calm her pounding heart. 

Before she could lose her courage, she knocked on the wooden frame of the sliding screen. A deep, rumbling ‘enter’ filtered through the thin screen and Hana slid the screen door open. Elder Kaito was sitting at a low table in the middle of the room, his reading glasses perched on the end of his nose, eyes moving up and down as he read a scroll. She bowed respectfully before closing the door behind herself. Her socks whispered against the tatami mats, unbearably loud to her ears in the quietness of the room. She sat _seiza_ at the low table, placed her textbook on the floor next to her and waited. 

And waited. 

Minutes passed as she waited for Kaito to finish reading. She blinked hard and tried to stay focused when all she wanted was to close her eyes as boredom settled in to drag her to sleep. 

‘A medic-nin.’ 

Hana’s head jerked upwards and she concentrated on Kaito. His eyes went to her upper arm, forehead protector noticeably absent and she straightened her posture, silently daring him to ask where it had gone. He didn’t bite. 

‘You wish to become a medic-nin.’ 

She nodded, nails digging into her knees at the impending disapproval she knew was coming her way. ‘Yes.’ 

Kaito harrumphed, his square jaw tensing while the corners of his mouth turned downwards. His gaze flicked to the textbook next to Hana. ‘It is one thing to be a medic-nin, but a veterinarian?’ 

Like a spark to tinder, frustration burned in Hana’s chest and she worked hard to tamp down on her growing ire. She tried her calmest voice. ‘What’s wrong with being a veterinarian? It’s still a medic-nin, but I will be specialising in ninken and other animals shinobi partner with.’ 

‘You have three of the most skilled ninken of the entire clan. They would be wasted by being a vet’s assistants,’ retorted Kaito. ‘As the future leader of the clan, you would be expected to lead from the front lines.’ 

It was like a rush of water had been poured over her head. She thought about all the cold stares from her cousins over the years. Akira had never forgiven her for punching him in the face when they were children. How was she supposed to lead the clan when they didn’t even like her?

Hana loved her family. She loved the clan, but in the deepest recesses of her mind, in the parts she didn’t linger in for too long, she also hated it at the same time. All the taunts and the comments, the scowls and the looks, and the obligation over her wants, it felt like the weight of the world on her shoulders. 

_Stronger together_.

That was what she was taught. Then why did she feel less and less like she belonged? Kiba didn’t have this problem. He fit into their clan dynamics easier than she ever did and without all the difficulties she had found on the way. At least her cousins _liked_ Kiba. 

Hana stared hard at Kaito, chakra blazing in defiance. He stared back, eyes set below a severe brow that he liked to peer in disapproval from beneath, especially at the younger Inuzuka generations that passed through his weekly tutelage. Grey streaked his long, shaggy brown hair and trimmed beard. The clan tattoos on his cheeks had faded from time. 

‘Even if I wanted to lead the clan, I would lead the clan as a medic-nin who specialised in veterinary medical ninjutsu.’ Hana forced the words from her mouth. ‘Not all leaders lead from the front line.’ 

‘That is not the Inuzuka way.’

‘Then that needs to change,’ snapped Hana, her temper spilling into her voice at the entrenched thinking that seemed to permeate from the older members of her clan. ‘Has the Uchiha massacre not taught us anything?’

‘Even Kiba at nine years old would lead the clan better. At least he understands when things need to change.’ Hana stood up, unable to sit any longer. Her hands shook and she tightened them on the book she held. ‘And don’t you ever dare tell me that the Haimaru Brothers are wasted or have you forgotten the two words you taught us?’ 

She bowed mechanically and before she could be stopped, left the room with her head held high. It wasn't until she was home that her conscience kicked in. Hana leaned heavily against the dining table as she tried to calm herself. She closed her eyes; this was going to come back to bite her ass. 

‘Where’s Kiba?’ 

‘He's not home?’ Hana turned her attention to her mother who had walked into the room. ‘It’s almost dinner…’ 

‘That damn kid better not be out getting into trouble,’ grumbled Tsume. Her mother’s eyes went to her arm. ‘Where’s your forehead protector?’ 

Dread trickled down Hana’s spine as realisation flooded through her. ‘Kiba probably went looking for it.’ 

‘Where did you lose it?’

‘I didn’t lose it.’ 

Tsume growled. ‘Who took it?’

Hana clamped her mouth shut, but at her mother’s unrelenting gaze, she unlocked her jaw. ‘Akira.’

‘I’m going to have words with his mother,’ muttered Tsume. She turned her head and whistled sharply. 

The thudding of paws against the hardwood floor announced the arrival of the Haimaru Brothers. Kuromaru followed sedately behind and sat down next to Tsume. The Brothers pounced on Hana in greeting, almost flooring her as they showered her with affection. She wrapped her arms around all three of them, needing the hug more than ever after the day she had. To top it off, Kiba had disappeared. 

‘Let’s go find that troublemaker.’ 

Hana followed behind her mother out of the house, unsure if she meant Kiba or Akira. Or both. They split up, she and the Brothers went in the direction of the Hokage Monument while Tsume and Kuromaru went into the forest. 

She ran through the dark streets, illuminated only by the lights in the houses she passed. The Haimaru Brothers went in different directions, covering more ground then they would have if they searched together. She stopped every few streets to sniff the air for Kiba’s scent, untangling the complicated smells of the village as it settled in for the night.

‘You should have just left it alone,’ said Hana to herself as she rushed past the evening crowd queueing outside Ichiraku. It wasn’t the first time her forehead protector had been taken and it wouldn’t be the last. But it was the first time Kiba had seen it. 

Her nose twitched at his familiar scent just as she heard Ichiro barking from the street ahead. She ran to Ichiro who was waiting for her with Jiro and Saburo. The scent was weak and faded, but he had definitely walked by. She rubbed Ichiro’s ears. ‘Good boy, let’s keep going.’

They tracked Kiba’s scent past Yamanaka Flowers, Hana sneezed at the pollen that drifted through the crack in the door, and the dango shop that always gave Kiba an extra skewer of dango whenever they stopped by. Downtown Konoha grew emptier, the shop fronts spaced further between, and the street became the path that led out of the village the further they walked. Kiba’s scent got stronger the closer they reached the outer gates. Anxiety buzzed in Hana’s head like a swarm of bees. If he had gone beyond the village, it would take more than just her and Tsume to track him down. 

It was as if her thoughts had conjured a genjutsu of Kiba and she watched as he walked through the towering gateway, face dirty with sweat and grime, clothes torn and stained with grass and dirt. Despite how he looked, his face brightened at seeing her and he broke into a run, Akamaru held close to his chest with one arm and her forehead protector grasped in his right hand. 

‘I got it back! It was tied to this _huge_ oak tree by—’

Hana launched herself at Kiba, pulling him into a crushing hug. Akamaru yelped from between her and Kiba’s bodies. She leaned backwards, hands pushing Kiba back by the shoulders. ‘What were you doing outside the village at this time?!’ 

‘I was getting your forehead protector back!’ cried Kiba. His earlier elation disappeared and turned to confusion at seeing Hana angry.

‘It’s dangerous! You could have been hurt or worse, you could have been—’ Hana’s teeth clacked as she forced her mouth shut, shutting away the word that surfaced and wanted to materialise into the world. 

‘But nothing happened,’ said Kiba, voice taking on a whiny quality like he was arguing to stay up later, instead of going to bed. ‘I know Akira took your forehead protector and I didn’t want you to lose it! You worked so hard for it.’ 

‘It’s just a forehead protector,’ reasoned Hana. Happiness and love filled her, eclipsing and dulling all the negative moments and feelings brought out by the day. She tugged Kiba into another hug, less bone crushing, but just as warm. She poured all the good feelings she felt from his words back into the hug. ‘You’re more important than a piece of metal and cloth, you know that right?’

Kiba’s bottom lip trembled, but he nodded. ‘You’re important too, Sis.’ 

She tightened her arms around Kiba and took a moment to collect herself. His words had the inadvertent effect of making her want to cry. She cleared her throat and placed her arm over his shoulder.

‘Let’s go home before Ma kills us both.’ 

Kiba groaned loudly, but let Hana steer him onto the path back towards the centre of the village.


	4. Hana 18 | Kiba 12

Hana’s heart thudded heavily in her chest as she tried to gather herself to face her fear. It wasn’t something that she had decided lightly. Many nights had been spent staring at her bedroom ceiling instead of sleeping. Months of back and forth, um-ing and err-ing on the pros and cons. Now this was it. 

She breathed in and out, and tried to calm her nervous heart. The Brothers raced each other across the grass in the back garden. Her pulse raced along with them. Her hands gripped the edge of the porch she was sitting on, right leg jiggling up and down and all the while she reminded herself about what was important.

Her decision did not change her loyalty. Every single member of the clan held loyalty in their hearts. It kept her going on missions when tiredness dulled her senses and her bones ached from exhaustion. It grounded her on the days when her peers left with their ninken to train and she went on her way to the clinic, the Haimaru Brothers following alongside her. They had never once looked longingly the other way. It centred her on the days when doubts crept in and disappointed eyes turned her way. It helped her focus on what was important.

The path she had chosen wasn’t what a lot of Inuzuka approved of, especially not for the eldest daughter to the head of the clan, but it had felt right to her. A waste, she had been told before. Waste or not, she knew it would help her protect them and the village. 

A white shape whizzed past Hana and she watched as Saburo broke away from the race to chase after the tiny dog. 

‘Don’t you have work today?’ asked Kiba from behind her. He sat down next to her, baggy coat unzipped and the hood off. His gaze fixed onto her jumpy leg that she failed to still.

‘I took the morning off,’ replied Hana too quickly to sound normal.

She felt Kiba’s stare to the side of her head and sighed internally. Why couldn’t he be this observant all the time, instead of always running off to play with Akamaru when he was supposed to be training? 

Kiba waved his hand in front of her face. ‘What’s wrong with you?’

Hana shifted to face Kiba. ‘I haven’t told Ma yet, but—’ she breathed in deeply ‘—I want to move out.’ 

Kiba’s expression fell, folding from concern to pure hurt as her words registered. In that moment, he looked so much younger than he was. She grabbed his hand, keeping him grounded and with her, knowing that his body would pick flight if she didn’t hold on. 

‘Why?’ His voice broke in that single utterance and she pulled Kiba into a hug, in need of the contact as much as he did. ‘Why do you not want to live with me and Ma anymore?’

‘Hey, hey, come on,’ whispered Hana as she brushed her hand up and down his back, trying to soothe the shaking in Kiba’s shoulders. She closed her eyes and wished she had planned a speech for this. This wasn’t how she had wanted Kiba to find out. ‘I love you and Ma, you hear me?’

‘Then why?’ Kiba leaned away, voice rising as his temper flared, eyes shining as his pupils narrowed and he ground his teeth together in confused anger. ‘We’re supposed to be stronger together!’

Hana swallowed as she tried to find the words. He wasn’t a child. He was twelve-years old, a genin and about to take the chūnin exams for the first time. Old enough to fight and die protecting their village, but young enough to not understand the politics of their clan. How could she explain the weight of the clan on her shoulders? 

‘You know, sometimes when you go into the forest with Akamaru?’ started Hana, trying a different tact. ‘When things get too loud or busy, and you just need some time to yourself?’ 

Kiba’s chin jutted out, refusing to look up at Hana, but he nodded slowly and Hana squeezed his hand in return. 

‘It’s kind of like that for me. I just want some space and time to myself.’ Away from the disapproving gazes, she thought. She hoped her brother understood without the need for her to explain fully. 

‘Can me and Akamaru visit?’ Kiba asked after a while and the tightness in Hana’s chest lessened. 

Hana huffed a laugh and pulled the shaggy hood over Kiba’s head playfully. ‘Of course, you can. I’ll be lonely if you didn’t and the Haimaru Brothers would miss Akamaru.’

The discomfort in the air lifted and Hana sighed when Kiba grinned up at her. He bent down to strap his sandals on. ‘You’re not leaving yet?’ 

‘No, not right away.’ 

‘Y’know, now that I think about it, it’s a good thing you’re moving out,’ said Kiba. He hopped off the porch, landing with a crunch on the gravel path. ‘That means I get your room! See ya later, Sis!’ 

Akamaru scampered after Kiba with surprising speed, leaping into the air to land on his head with a bark, as they went to train with the rest of Team 8. 

Sensing the downturn in her mood, the Brothers trotted over to her and she hugged them, seeking comfort for a moment before she had to face her mother. Telling Kiba had been hard, telling her mother was going to be so much worse. With a final ruffle of their coats, Hana let go and stood up. She faced the backdoor and went looking for Tsume. 

The walk from the porch to the kitchen was short. All too soon, Hana found herself in the same room as her mother, who was leaning against the kitchen counter with a mug of coffee cupped in her hands. Kuromaru was stretched out next to Tsume. His single yellow eye tracking Hana as she stopped in front of Tsume. His left ear flapped and he pushed his large body onto his feet, and left the room the way Hana came in. 

‘Thank you,’ said Hana quietly, hand brushing over the top of Kuromaru’s head on his way out. He whacked her on the legs with his tail.

‘I thought you were at work?’

Hana jolted at her mother’s voice. It didn’t seem like she had overheard her and Kiba’s earlier conversation. She couldn’t be sure though. The Inuzuka had almost canine level hearing. 

‘I’m not going in until the afternoon.’

Just as Kiba did, it didn’t take long for Tsume to notice that something wasn’t quite right. She put down her coffee and Hana felt like she was ten-years old again, stood in front of her mother, about to be told off for sneaking out in the night to practice her ninjutsu. She clasped her hands together. Her shoulders curled inwards. 

Tsume leaned backwards and crossed her arms over her chest. Years of sitting by her mother’s side in a room full of hot-headed Inuzuka family members had taught her all her mother’s tactics. Unlike Kiba who opened his mouth without thinking sometimes, Tsume waited for Hana to start. 

They could have stayed like that all morning. Her mother, despite her infamy for impatience, could wait. Hana shored up her courage, but all it took was one sharp look from Tsume and the words tumbled from her mouth. 

‘I want to move out.’ 

Tsume’s eyes narrowed, but all Hana felt was the shaking in her hands as agitation prickled down her spine. She wasn’t afraid, not in the way she would if she was facing an enemy. She wasn’t at ease either and hadn’t been for a while. Moving out was something she had been thinking about increasingly since she turned eighteen. The Inuzuka compound was a series of houses, not like the Hyūga estate or the Nara’s lands where you could wander through without bumping into someone twice in a day. The compound was small enough to feel claustrophobic. She needed space. 

It wasn’t that Hana was disloyal to her family and clan. They were her body and soul, and… That was the problem. She wanted space and distance from it all. She didn’t want the whispers that followed her. The politics of clan life had risen again with her eighteenth birthday. The politics hadn’t died, just quietened over the years. The discomfort she felt in her own skin only made it worse every time she caught herself in the mirror. 

And unlike Kiba, Tsume didn’t ask why. She only looked at Hana without a word, seemingly impassive and at complete odds with Hana’s imagined reaction. Shouting and yelling and having to defend herself. That was the reaction she’d expected of this conversation. She twisted her fingers, her nails digging into the backs of her hands. She hadn’t expected the silence. 

‘I’ll never lead the clan, you know that Ma,’ confessed Hana in a breathless rush. She bit down hard, her sharp canines pricking the soft skin on her bottom lip. ‘I know what the Elders will say about you and I know you’ve already had to fight so much, but I just—’

Hana broke off with a choked gasp and closed her eyes, unable to bear seeing her mother’s disappointment. Warm arms enveloped her into a tight hug. All the breath in her lungs squeezed out from her lungs, but Hana held on just as tightly to the back of Tsume’s flak jacket. 

‘I didn’t raise my daughter to be afraid of what a bunch of old people will say.’ Tsume’s arms tightened around Hana, almost to the point of pain. It drove the doubt and fear from Hana’s mind. ‘You've always walked your own path and never cared what anyone said, so you shouldn’t care about what people say about me.’ 

Tears filled Hana’s eyes at Tsume’s firm, yet gentle reprimand. Her jaw throbbed from how hard she bit down on her molars, to stop the rising sobs that threatened to escape. She wasn’t going to cry. Tsume leaned back and cupped Hana’s cheek, and that was all it took to break the dam and for the tears to fall freely.

‘You haven’t said it, not in words, but I know your feelings about the clan.’

‘I’m sorry Ma—’

‘Don’t you dare apologise for following in what you believe in,’ growled Tsume. ‘Where is my daughter who practically ripped her grandfather’s throat for saying that the Haimaru Brothers were wasted with a medic-nin handler?’ 

A wet laugh bubbled up in Hana’s throat. She hadn’t known her mother knew about that incident. Of course, she would have known. 

Tsume’s eyes softened and she wiped Hana’s tears with her thumbs. ‘I understand, believe me, I understand the want to leave sometimes.’ 

‘I’m not really leaving,’ added Hana, panic seizing her. She didn’t want anyone to think she was leaving. 

‘I know you aren’t, because if you did…’ Tsume turned her head to the side, throat bobbing as she swallowed. It was what she didn’t say; it was in her mother’s silence that held the most meaning to Hana. ‘Even if you did leave, you wouldn’t have really left us, not to me anyway. No one in this family leaves for the sake of leaving.’

Hana nodded and sniffed. The adrenaline drained from her body, leaving only the breathlessness of tears and exhaustion worse than any physical training she had gone through. ‘Stronger together?’

Tsume smiled, canines revealing themselves in her grin. ‘Always.’ 

It wasn’t until Hana had left and on her way to the clinic with the Brother running ahead when understanding dawned like the sun rising in the morning as she remembered her mother’s words.


	5. Hana 21 | Kiba 15

The spectre of their father rose again when Kiba was fifteen. A wayward comment had reached Kiba’s ears. A comment that triggered an argument that should have been laid to rest years ago. Tsume made it a point not to talk about it and Hana had learned to do the same. She had swept it beneath the carpet after she had done her own digging when she was a teenager. 

Now, apparently, it was Kiba’s turn. She knew all about his explanation for why their father had left when he was only a year old, that it was their mother who was responsible for scaring away their father. She didn't blame him for thinking this. Tsume could be raw and rough around the edges, but Hana knew she wasn’t like that. And so did Kiba. 

‘It’s your fault that dad left!’ shouted Kiba. He spun on the balls of his feet and ran out of the house. Akamaru whined into his paws, but followed after him. 

‘It’s okay,’ said Hana. She placed a hand on her mother’s bristled shoulders, tightening her fingers into a strong grip until the tension seeped from Tsume’s body and the chakra that had stifled the air in the room receded. ‘I’ll speak to him. He doesn’t know.’

Tsume sighed, jaw clenched tight and her eyes shining. Hana hugged her briefly and went after Kiba, the Haimaru Brothers following at her heels. Her mother, the strong and wild woman who led clan meetings with an iron fist, who yelled and gave the Elders as good as she got, had been heartbroken when her father had left. The image of her mother, sat at the dining room table, a creased letter in her hand as her tears fell had been seared into her seven year-old memory. 

‘Come on, let’s find my numbskull brother,’ said Hana. She leapt to the rooftops in one chakra fuelled jump and ran in the direction her nose told her. The Brothers followed, their paws kicking up dirt in the street below.

The rooftops got farther and farther apart, her knees bending a little more with each jump, until the last of the village buildings fell away and her feet stepped lightly from branch to branch. She saw Akamaru first, his hulking white body lying in the middle of a clearing, head resting on his paws. Kiba was nowhere to be seen, but Hana knew that where Akamaru was, Kiba wasn’t far.

Hana jumped down and landed lightly on the ground. Akamaru’s head perked up as she and the Brothers approached. Ichiro left her side and sat next to the younger dog, taking guard position even if Hana couldn’t sense any unfamiliar chakra signatures nearby. 

‘Are you done sulking?’ Hana called out. The rustle of leaves on a tree caught her attention. She walked over and sat down at the base of the tree. Jiro rested his head in her lap, the needier of the three brothers while Saburo laid next to her, head on his paws and eyes falling closed. 

She smoothed down Jiro’s course grey fur, scratching her way down his back. Another five minutes and Kiba would emerge. He always did. Just as she had expected, Kiba jumped down from the tree and plopped down on the ground next to her. He crossed his legs, back hunched and started pulling up tufts of grass. 

Hana stared up at the sky, absentmindedly watching the clouds drift by as she let the silence run its course. It never lasted long. They bickered less now that she was older, becoming a veterinary medic-nin had infused her with a calm that had been absent in her teens. The hours of surgery had taught her patience and that temper had no right inside a clinic. It was only a matter of time before Kiba had gathered his thoughts enough for Hana to start talking. 

‘You know, Ma didn’t have it easy,’ said Hana finally.

‘She’s the head of the clan,’ Kiba growled and kept ripping at the grass, scowling down as if it had challenged him to a fight. ‘It’s not exactly a hardship for her.’ 

She sighed and leaned against the rough bark of the tree. Jiro licked her hand, trying to soothe the uptick in her chakra, slight irritation flaring at Kiba’s words. She focused on Jiro and forced calm through her body, reminding herself of how much Kiba didn’t know. How much their mother had shielded him from clan politics.

‘What? You got that look on you,’ grumbled Kiba. He frowned at Hana, hands clenched into fists, blades of grass caught between his fingers. ‘The one where you’re about to yell at me.’ 

‘I haven’t yelled at you in years.’ 

‘You still have that look though.’ Kiba shrugged, bottom lip jutted out. Akamaru trotted over and rested his large head on his thigh. He relaxed his hands and stroked Akamaru’s head. 

Hana watched the tenseness drained from Kiba with every pass of his palm against Akamaru’s white fur. He had no idea just how much he resembled their mother, from the narrowed pupils, to their impatient personalities, and down to the wildness of their spiky brown hair. They were the complete opposite to Hana. Hana whose hair grew straight and only needed to be tied up. The restlessness and hotheadedness, she had grown out of during her teenage years, mellowed out with age and from the comfort of finally being sure of herself. 

‘Ma had to fight tooth and nail to remain the clan’s leader.’ 

‘What do you mean?’ asked Kiba with a frown. ‘No one would dare to challenge Ma for the clan leadership.’ 

‘It wasn’t always like that, little brother.’ Hana scratched behind Jiro’s ear. ‘It was before me and you were born, but Ma almost lost her right to lead and was close to being expelled from the clan.’

‘What?’ Shock and confusion evident on Kiba’s face. ‘How come I don’t know about this?’ 

Hana shrugged. Even she didn’t have the whole picture. Only bits and pieces from other clan members, old enough to remember and young enough to tell her the stories when she had started asking the questions. Why the clan followed Tsume loyally, yet was hostile to her and Hana. 

‘Our clan’s not traditionalist like the Hyūga or have clan rituals like the Aburame, but we still have our ways. Not all of them right’ 

‘What happened?’ His earlier anger was replaced with curiosity. 

‘Ma went against the clan Elders.’ Hana frowned. This was the part she never understood. No matter how many times she thought about it, she never understood why it was a bad thing. ‘She married a man with no name or ties to the Village, who couldn’t tell a Ram seal from a Tiger seal.’ 

Kiba’s eyes widened. ‘Dad wasn’t a shinobi?’ 

Hana shook her head. A vague memory of amber eyes, long neatly tied brown hair, and a groomed goatee was all she remembered of their father. The sound of his voice had been lost to time. Those who remembered Shigeru Tanazaki probably only recalled a tidily dressed man, soft-spoken and calm. The complete opposite in personality and appearance to his wildfire wife. 

‘The leader of the Inuzuka clan marrying a non-shinobi? It was the type of scandal that even our family couldn't just brush underneath the carpets and our clan is more relaxed than most in Konoha.’ Hana paused and took a breath, hands curling into fists. ‘What if their children couldn’t manipulate chakra? How can she lead a clan when her children didn’t embody the Inuzuka way?’

‘That’s bullshit!’ 

Hana laughed in agreement. ‘Apparently that was what Ma had said too.’ 

Kiba shoved a hand through his hair and rubbed his head in frustration. ‘I don’t get it! The clan works together as one unit, but expelling someone for who they married goes against that!’ 

Hana agreed. She still didn’t get it. ‘Stronger together’ was the Inuzuka way and ingrained into every single member of the clan from birth to death. It ran in their blood from one generation to the next, from handler to ninken. Her clan tattoos were the physical representation of their loyalty and she wore them with pride and carried those words, along with the Will of Fire in her heart whenever she left on a mission. But when she had discovered her mother’s story all those years ago, she had looked at the red fangs on her cheeks with bitterness. 

‘The Elders made it so hard for Ma. What’s worse was some of our family actually believed the chakra thing. Ma fought so hard for herself when no one else did. She fought for Dad and in a way, for us.’

‘Then why did he leave?’ 

Hana thought back to her mother’s words from a few years ago. Their father leaving was still one mystery she hadn’t been able to solve. She hadn’t found the courage to ask either. But it didn’t hurt as much to think about it now. ‘There was a reason why he left. I don’t know why, but I know it’s not because Ma scared Dad away.’ 

Kiba ducked his head in shame. He fell silent, shoulders hunched up to his ears, hands gripping his knees as he contemplated Hana’s words. 

‘What was he like, Sis?’ asked Kiba to the ground. He looked up only to look away again, just like he used to do when he was younger, unsure if he had asked something he shouldn’t have. 

Hana sighed heavily. She hadn’t thought about their father in years, had deliberately stopped herself from thinking about him. The thought of her father used to bring a surge of hate thrumming through her. Now all she felt was indifference. Age and maturity had taught her that life wasn’t perfect. Whatever his reason was for leaving, she would never forgive him for breaking her mother’s spirit.

She turned to Kiba. He knew nothing of the man who had brushed her hair in the morning and taught her how to tie up her long hair. She dragged up what little she remembered of the man she used to call dad and for the sake of her brother, put the memories into words. Most were good, very little were bad, and the worst were the days that had followed their father’s departure.

‘I know it doesn’t look that way, but Ma loved Dad,’ added Hana when she finally finished, feeling drained and weary. The wet sheen to her mother’s eyes rose to mind. ‘She probably still does.’ 

‘Shit,’ said Kiba, a deep furrow between his brow. ‘I’ve really messed up this time, haven’t I?’ 

Hana pulled Kiba into an one-armed hug. ‘Apologise, Ma will understand.’ 

‘Was this the reason you moved out, because of the way the Elders treated Ma?’ 

‘It’s one of the reasons, but not the main.’ 

‘What’s the main reason?’ asked Kiba, dark eyes sparkling with curiosity. 

‘Next time, I’ve got work tonight.’ Hana gave his head a light push. She got up and whistled. The Brothers stood in front of her, ready for her directions. ‘Remember to say “sorry” to Ma.’ 

Kiba grumbled that he would. 

‘I’ll see you tonight.’ With a nod of her head, Hana walked back towards the village and pushed to the back of her head that Kiba would ask for the reason again.


	6. Now

‘I don’t think I ever told you the reason why I left home?’ The thought rose suddenly as Hana paused. Her throat was dry from talking for so long. 

It seemed like years ago. What had been important five years ago had been overtaken by the tremors of war. The Hana back then was not the Hana she was now. She was surer, more comfortable in her own skin then she had been in years. The differences she saw in the mirror no longer haunted her. Her rounded pupils, her straight brown hair, and sharp face didn’t make her question her place in their family. 

‘I love you and Ma with my whole heart,’ said Hana, eyes downcast. ‘I would die protecting our family, the clan and the village before I let anything happen to them, but I hate the politics that even our clan have. All I want to do is protect them in my own way without all the baggage that comes with it… Maybe that makes me selfish.’ 

Hana shook her head. She doubted Kiba would understand what she meant. Even she wasn’t sure what she meant, but it had felt right back then and it still felt right now. She meant what she had said to their grandfather all those years ago, Kiba would be a better leader than she could ever learn to be. 

He led with a naturalness that resembled their mother. Kiba could rally even the most unwilling into the willing. It used to make her jealous just how well-liked he was. But that had been her insecurity. Now she accepted it as a difference in personalities and that they still held the same values at heart. 

A low groan broke through Hana’s thoughts. 

‘Sis, if you keep talking about when we were children, you’re going to knock me out longer than any enemy could.’

Hana shot to her feet at the raspy grumble. She leaned over Kiba, his dark eyes were open and he squinted blearily up at her. She poked her finger into his shoulder. 

‘Ow, what the hell, Sis?!’ 

‘That was for comment,’ said Hana. She jabbed her finger into his shoulder again. ‘That one was for worrying me!’

‘Ow, seriously, stop that! Can’t you see I’m injured and lying on a hospital bed,’ yelled Kiba as she tried to shuffle away. 

‘Obviously not injured enough if you can move so much.’ But she stopped poking him and sat back down with a shuddering breath. She glared at him and demanded, ‘Why did you jump in front of me? You could have died!’

‘You could have died too! What was I supposed to do, let that enemy-nin take you down? Some brother I would be.’ Kiba glared back at Hana. It would have looked more menacing if he wasn’t lying down looking like he had faced death and survived. ‘Ma would have killed me.’ 

Hana laughed and Kiba’s tired face brightened with a wide grin. ‘Well, it’s a good thing we both made it.’

Kiba scoffed and winced, ‘Tell that to my body, everything hurts so damn much.’ 

‘You’ll heal, little brother,’ said Hana. She squeezed his hand. ‘We’ll get through this.’

‘Stronger together, right?’


End file.
